No Turning Back
by Monroe-Militia
Summary: Bass is certain that this is one scenario that they are not going to get out of alive. Charlie's determined that they will. Bass knows that there's no way that he will, so he figures that there is no longer any reason to hold back how he feels. He needs to know if she feels the same in case he dies down here.
1. Chapter 1

As dust rained down from where the building had collapsed over them, Charlie coughed viciously into the crook of her arm. She silently thought to herself that she now knew how Danny had felt with his asthma.

"How much longer do you think that the oxygen will hold out for?" She questioned once she had managed to somewhat re-catch her breath.

"Unless there's a crack in here somewhere, not long," Bass told her honestly. "But it's pretty damn dark in here. It doesn't seem like odds of air getting in are very high. Besides, even if we can get enough oxygen to survive, we're still trapped down here. We'll die of starvation anyways."

"That's nice and optimistic," Charlie responded sarcastically. "Remind me to get stuck in these situations with you more often if we make it out of here."

"Charlie, I'm not making it out of here. Even if you do," Bass told her before stopping to cough for a few painful seconds as he clutched at a wound that he had gotten from something that had fallen on him. "I'm going to die from whatever stabbed through my side when the entire place fell on top of us long before we get the chance to get out of this place."

It was pitch black, too dark to see what was sticking out of his side, but Bass could feel it and the blood that was pooling around it.

"What?" Charlie asked, her voice on full alert. "How bad is it? Where is it?"

Bass couldn't see Charlie, but he could feel one of her hands hit his arm and move along it in search of his wound.

"Here," he said as he brought one of his blood-covered hands over to hers.

She let out a little noise of surprise at the dampness of his hand before he carefully guided her hand over to his wound.

"It's bleeding a lot, Charlie," Bass told her. "You should worry about getting yourself out of here, not about me."

"No, you might still be able to get out of here," Charlie insisted and Bass could hear the panic and franticness in her tone. "The others weren't that far away. They must have heard. They're probably already here and they're going to dig us out any second."

"We don't know how much debris is on top of us, Charlie," he pointed out. "It's got to be heavy to try and move. They might be able to get you out of here, but I'll already be gone by then. And that's assuming that they can get it off of us without making any more fall."

"No, we're getting you out of here," Charlie repeated.

Bass felt her hand leave his wound and a few seconds later felt some kind of fabric pressing against it.

"We just have to slow down the bleeding and you'll be okay," she continued.

"Charlie-" He tried weakly.

"No, they're going to get us out of here."

"Charlie-"

"They're going to get us out of here and then my mom's going to fix this. You're going to be fine!"

"Charlie!"

"I bet it's not even as bad as it feels."

"_Charlotte_." he said in the strongest tone he could muster.

"What?" She asked finally and he was sure that he could hear tears in her tone.

She could feel his hand move on top of where hers were still applying pressure to the wound as he spoke in his gentlest tone.

"Charlie, I'm _not_ making it out of here, okay?" He asked her.

"No-"

"I'm not, so please just stop for two seconds and let me say something," he insisted.

She nodded her head in agreement and then realized that he couldn't see it, so she quickly said, "Okay."

"Charlie Matheson, you are one of the most stubborn and downright irritating people that I have ever met, and that is saying something," Bass told her and he heard a small laugh come from her at that. "But you're also one of the best and strongest. And somehow, somewhere along the line you stopped being annoying and started being something else."

"Bass, you don't have to-"

"Yes. I do," he told her. "I wish I could see you right now. Dying might not be so bad if I got to see a pretty face as I went."

Charlie let out a weak laugh through her tears at that.

"Trust me; you don't want to see me right now. I'm a mess," she told him.

"I want to see you, mess or not," he assured her. "Just hearing your laugh drives me insane, Charlie. And I've been trying to deny it for so long. But there's not really any point anymore, is there?"

"Bass, stop talking like that."

"Like what?"

"Like you're about to die," Charlie responded.

"But I am," he insisted.

"No, you can't," she argued.

"Charlie, I _am_ dying. And lying to me isn't going to change that," Bass told her.

"…Where are you?" She asked, shifting so that one hand held pressure to his wound while the other searched for his face.

"Right here," he said as her hand reached the side of his face.

Charlie carefully brought her face closer to his, making sure to keep one hand pressing down on his wound, until she could feel his ragged breath on her lips. She used that as a guide as she brought herself just a little nearer, closing the distance between their lips.

Bass could taste the bitter dust and saltiness of tears on her lips as he kissed her back, silently wondering if this was all for his dying benefit or if she felt something for him too.

When she pulled away for a moment to take a breath, Bass told her, "This is a pretty good way to go too."

She wasn't sure of how to respond to that, but it didn't matter much since his mouth was already back on hers before she had the chance to speak.

As they kissed, Charlie could hear crumbling sounds in the debris above them and wondered whether the entire thing was going to come crashing down on them at any moment.

Eventually the noises stopped and it was silent for a few seconds before a new sound replaced it.

"Are we interrupting something?" Miles asked in an amused tone. "…Should we come back and save your asses later?"

Charlie quickly pulled her lips away from Monroe's and tried to wipe the tears off of her face. Instead, she ended up just smearing more blood and dirt onto her face as she suddenly became very aware of the fact that she only had a bra covering her top half since she had taken her shirt off to use on Bass's wound. She was sure that they were quite a sight to walk in on.

"Well I'll be damned," Bass commented as he struggled to remain conscious. "Maybe your crazy denial wasn't quite as insane as I thought."

That was the last thing that he managed to say before he lost consciousness.

"Mom! Do something!" Charlie shouted urgently. "He can't die now. Not after he made it until you dug us out."

Rachel carefully jumped down next to her daughter and then gently pushed her daughter's hands out of the way to try and help Bass herself.

Miles reached down and pulled Charlie back out of the hole that she and Bass had been trapped in and held her back as she continued to panic from shock. While Miles held onto Charlie's waist to keep her from running back over to Bass, Gene went to go help his daughter.

The next few minutes were a slow-motion blur to Charlie that came in a bunch of incoherent phrases.

"-still breathing-"

…

"-looks bad-"

…

"-might be able to-"

…

"-bleeding slowed-"

…

"-might be alright-"

…

"Charlie, you need to calm down," she heard Miles say in her ear, dragging her somewhat back to reality.

She finally realized how hard she had been thrashing against her uncle's grip and stilled before turning and sobbing into his shoulder.

Miles wasn't in much better condition, but was forcing his emotions down as he ran a hand through his niece's hair in an attempt to help calm her down.

Charlie couldn't look, so she quietly asked, "Is he..?"

Although her voice was muffled by his shirt, Miles just barely heard her and quickly responded with, "No. Your mom and Gene think that they've got the bleeding under control. It looks like he's going to be okay, just out of commission for a while… Trust me; it takes more than that to get rid of Sebastian Monroe."

Charlie managed to laugh weakly into her uncle's shirt.

"You're a mess, kid," he told her. "Here, take my shirt."

With that he pulled away from her for just long enough to remove his shirt and hand it to his niece.

Charlie pulled it over her head and then let herself turn to look over at Bass. He looked pale, too pale, but she could see that the rise and fall of his chest had become much more even than before.

"…So am I allowed to ask what the whole making out when we found you thing was about?" Miles asked. "Or is it too soon?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Please read and review! I hope that you're liking it so far **:)**  
><strong>


	2. Chapter 2

Charlie hadn't gotten a second of sleep in the last thirty-six hours. She was exhausted, both physically and mentally, yet she still remained awake.

She couldn't sleep... Not until she saw him alive and awake... Not until she knew that he was really okay.

She knew that she was scaring the rest of her family by sitting there in complete silence, staring at nothing, but she couldn't seem to make herself hold a conversation or really concentrate on anything.

All her mind seemed to want to do was analyze the events of the day before over and over again... Over-analyzing everything that he had said... Over-analyzing that kiss... Replaying the image of his pale body going limp... Replaying the feel of his ragged breath on her lips... Replaying the desperation in his tone... Replaying the feeling of so much blood, way too much blood, pooling around the debris jutting out of his side... His words echoing in her head...

_Charlie, I'm not making it out of here, okay?_

* * *

><p>"Charlie!"<p>

The sound of her grandpa's voice pulled her back out of her thoughts. Judging by his tone it hadn't been the first time that he'd tried getting her attention.

"What?" She questioned, her voice coming out weak and croaky from lack of use.

"Monroe's awake," her grandfather told her gently. "You wanted to see him, didn't you?"

She nodded her head and stood up on stiff legs.

On her way to Bass's room she crossed paths with her mother. It was clear from the expression on Rachel's face that she would prefer if Charlie weren't going to see Bass after the way that they had been found.

* * *

><p>When she entered his room, Charlie found Bass lying awake, although he still looked exhausted. But more than that, he looked awful... Considerably better than the last time that she'd seen him, but it was still clear that he was less than healthy.<p>

Then again, she probably didn't look much better. Sure, she had cleaned his blood off of her along with all of the dirt, but she had also spent the last day and a half worrying instead of sleeping at all.

"You look terrible," she told him as she stepped into the room.

That earned her a small laugh. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not... If she'd been impaled in the side she was pretty sure that she would consider laughing more painful than it was worth...

"...I'm guessing that there's no way that I could convince you that I would have said all of that stuff to anybody that I was trapped with, is there?" He questioned.

"Not really," she responded. "Especially when you ask so convincingly."

"That's what I figured," he told her. "Well in that case, you look irritatingly good. As usual."

That time it was her who let out a laugh.

"Thanks, but I'm pretty sure you're lying."

He was still smiling at her as he commented, "And I'm convinced that the only reason I'm alive right now is because you were too damn stubborn to let me die."

"Sounds like the logical explanation," she agreed with a smirk.

Before Bass had the chance to respond, the door opened behind her.

"Oh," Miles said when he saw Charlie standing there. "Your mom said that he was awake, but didn't tell me that you were in here... Which was probably intentional after we found you two making out. You know what; I'll just come back later."

"No, I will," Charlie told her uncle. "I already got a turn... Besides, I mostly just wanted to make sure that he was really okay."

Before he had any chance to argue, she was already out the door.

Miles watched her go and then turned back to his friend.

"You're glad that I'm not dead," Bass accused with a grin.

"Yeah," Miles told him. "If anything's going to kill you, it's going to be me."

Bass just smiled. He knew it was his friend's way of saying that he was glad that he was alright.

* * *

><p>Charlie waited outside in the hallway for a few short minutes before her uncle came back out.<p>

"He's all yours," Miles told her.

When she re-entered the room, she walked over to his bed and took a seat on the free space on the bed beside Bass.

"You scared the hell out of me," she told him. "You know, you are a terrible person to get stuck in a death-trap with."

"I don't know," he responded in an amused tone. "As far as near death experiences go, I thought it was pretty fun."

"It probably was for you," she replied. "You didn't have to spend the whole time wondering if at any moment you were suddenly going to be making out with a corpse... I know that's always what gets me going."

He let out a hearty chuckle at that, which he quickly cut off as he winced and clutched at his side in pain.

"Sorry," she told him guiltily.

"It's alright," he insisted.

* * *

><p>Bass didn't last for much more conversation before his eyelids began to droop and Charlie decided to stop talking and let him sleep. That suited her just fine, since she definitely needed some sleep herself.<p>

She moved so that she was lying down, making sure to leave a decent amount of space between them. She didn't want to injure him any worse than he already was.

She knew that her mom would probably be furious when she inevitably would find them like this, but Charlie couldn't quite make herself care.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Please read and review! Also a super huge thanks goes out to perfectmanhatten, bruz, Dee809, redbanker, samanthalininger, Loveforthestory, Daedalos, Lemon Supreme, driver picks the music, Wolf9lucky, Iceonfire7, ToriaInTheTardis, Siamshipper17, and the two anonymous guests for reviewing the first chapter. :)  
><strong>


	3. Chapter 3

"Is it really that ridiculous?" Gene questioned.

"My daughter is sleeping in a bed with Sebastian Monroe," Rachel responded angrily. "It's beyond ridiculous. There isn't even a word for what it is."

"She hadn't slept in almost two days because she was waiting to make sure that he was alright. It makes sense that she would crash as soon as she knew he was," Gene reasoned.

It wasn't that he was overly supportive of whatever was going on between his granddaughter and Monroe. He just really didn't want Rachel waking Charlie up when she was just finally catching up on her sleep.

Rachel could understand her daughter wanting to keep Monroe alive and even being worried about him being okay afterwards, but what she couldn't fathom was what was going on between them with the kissing and bed sharing. That just made even the reasonable responses that her daughter had to Bass's near-death experience intolerable to her.

"Fine," Rachel finally snapped out. "I won't wake her up."

* * *

><p>When Bass woke up late the next morning, he found Charlie asleep on the other side of the bed and smiled a little to himself.<p>

He decided that she could use the sleep, so he didn't wake her up. There wasn't much to do though, especially with her asleep. Bass already wasn't a big fan of bed rest. Unfortunately, he was even less of a fan of ripping his wound back open so he was stuck.

He wondered what it took to get food around here. He figured that his best bet would be to try yelling at Miles, but odds of that working were low. It would probably just wake Charlie up, so he figured that he'd just have to wait.

…Why was bed rest so boring? He would kill for a TV or something. If only he still had the pendant…

He closed his eyes and tried falling back asleep, but his body was having none of that. He was all rested up and just stuck miserable in bed.

When he heard a rustling noise beside him, he opened his eyes and turned his head to find Charlie blinking the sleep out of her eyes.

"Thank god you're awake," he told her.

"Why?" She asked as she stretched a little. "Do you need something?"

"I hate bed rest and I'm hungry, but everybody just left me here and decided to never check on me," he complained.

"So then why didn't you wake me up?" Charlie asked him.

"Because you're cute when you're asleep and yesterday you looked like you hadn't slept in three weeks," he told her. "Plus you're related to Miles and I know what happens when you try and wake him up while he's still tired."

Charlie let out a laugh at that as she sat up, being careful not to knock Bass as she did so.

She was just going to get up when he asked, "So was there anything real to that kiss or was it just because we both thought I was dying?"

Charlie stopped in her tracks and turned back to look at him. She hesitated for a moment before admitting, "I don't know."

She knew for sure that the kiss had meant something; she just wasn't sure whether it was the fact that she thought he was going to die that had made it that way or not.

"Well there is one way to find out," Bass pointed out with a wide smirk.

Bass wasn't expecting that line to work, but he figured that it was certainly worth a try.

He was surprised when she responded with, "You're right."

"Really?" He questioned, unable to conceal his surprise.

Charlie had to hold back a laugh at his wide eyes and open mouth that transformed into a small smirk before her eyes. He looked like a little kid on Christmas.

She moved closer and then let out a small laugh as she realized his inability to move without hurting himself more made things a little difficult.

After a moment's hesitation she admitted, "I'm not sure how to do this without straddling you."

"By all means, straddle away," he responded with a grin.

Charlie rolled her eyes at that, "I'm trying not to injure you."

"Charlie, do you really think that I'm going to complain about getting hurt from having you on top of me?" He questioned.

As she positioned herself over him carefully, trying to keep as much of her weight off of him as possible, she let out a laugh and commented, "We're a mess."

"Maybe a bit," he agreed with a grin.

"You alright?" She checked.

"I'm fine, Charlie," he told her in an amused tone as his hands moved to her hips.

"Good," she said before bringing her lips down to press against his.

Just as their lips met, there was a loud sound as the door opened behind them.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Rachel shouted out angrily as the door slammed shut behind her.

"My thought exactly," Charlie muttered to herself as she sat back up and turned to face her mother.

Rachel glared straight at Bass as she warned him, "You're on bed rest. That means physical activity is bad for your health… Especially if that physical activity involves my daughter."

Charlie slid off of Bass and back onto the other side of the bed as she let out a loud groan before turning to face him.

"I figured it out," she told him. "It wasn't my stubbornness that kept you alive. It was actually that my mom has a sixth sense that tells her when we're kissing. She probably sensed it and then got us out in half the time that should have been possible."

"What the hell are you thinking, Charlie?" Rachel demanded.

Charlie did not want to have this fight, and she especially didn't want to have it in front of Bass, so instead she rose to her feet and began to head for the door as she mumbled, "I'm going to go make some breakfast."

As soon as Charlie was out of the room, Bass shot Rachel a smug grin as he told her, "It was nice of you to be concerned about my health, Rachel. But don't worry; Charlie was doing most of the work."

Rachel looked ready to kill him with her glare as she growled out angrily, "You might want to remember who you're getting your painkillers from."

With that she turned and walked out of the room, off to go try and talk some sense into her daughter.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Please read and review! A giant thanks goes out to LemonSupreme, redbanker, sirsevchick, ambrown1022, Daedalos, Siamshipper17, driver picks the music, IceonFire7, perfectmanhatten, and the anonymous guest for reviewing the second chapter! :)  
><strong>


	4. Chapter 4

"Is there anything to eat?" Charlie asked as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

"There's some food left in the kitchen," Gene told her.

"Thanks, Grandpa," Charlie told him as she strode into the kitchen.

"You're looking a lot better now that you got some sleep," he commented as he followed her into the room. "You were worrying me there for a minute."

"Well she still has me worried," Rachel commented dryly from the entryway of the room before she turned her attention to her daughter. "What were you thinking, Charlie?"

Charlie didn't bother turning around as she grabbed a couple of bowls.

Great, so now they were going to do this in front of Grandpa and Miles, who was sitting at the kitchen table with his breakfast.

"Oh, so now you're going to try and pretend that you can't hear me?" Rachel challenged.

"No, unlike some people, I actually know how to listen," Charlie retorted with her back still to her mother. "…And when something isn't worth arguing over."

"Right... Because I'm just completely overreacting right now," Rachel commented sarcastically.

"Yes, you are!" Charlie shouted out as she slammed the two bowls down on the counter and turned to face her mother. "You are and you don't even know it!"

If Rachel wanted a fight, then Charlie would give her a fight. That was one of the few ways that she didn't disappoint her mother.

Gene and Miles each remained perfectly silent and still with the hope of avoiding be dragged into the middle of the women's argument. They knew from experience that there was no winning when that happened.

"Sure. And how would you like me to react when I catch you straddling Monroe?" Rachel asked in that fake tone that grated on Charlie's nerves so badly. "Huh? Would you like a round of applause? Or, I know. Maybe I should high-five him on my way out of the room?"

"Well I wouldn't expect you to react any way other than this," Charlie responded in a sickeningly sweet tone of her own. "But have you ever considered that maybe this isn't about you? And that the world doesn't revolve around Rachel Matheson?"

"I'm trying to understand what this is about!" Rachel snapped back. "But all that you seem to be interested in is turning me into the bad guy."

"You're not trying to understand anything!" Charlie retorted, her voice rising back up to a shouting level. "You don't care. You're just mad that things aren't going your way. Everything has to go the perfect Rachel Matheson way or else you have to throw a fit like you're some kind of child! And you never try to understand anyone else's point of view. You won't even listen to other people unless it's to get ammunition for the next temper tantrum that you're going to throw! And then you stand there wondering why I don't want to talk to you about things."

"Where the hell is all of this coming from?" Rachel demanded.

"From months of being driven insane having to live under the same roof as you," Charlie retorted. "Trying to get away from you is what made me leave Willoughby and find Monroe in the first place."

"Charlie-" Rachel tried in a lighter tone that tipped Charlie off that she was planning on attempting to say something that, at least in her mind, would perfectly smooth things over on her terms.

Charlie was going to have to pass on the imaginary peace and all of the strings that would come attached to something that she hadn't agreed to.

"I'll eat this upstairs," Charlie muttered before picking up her and Bass's breakfasts and pushing her way out of the room.

* * *

><p>Charlie shoved the door to Bass's room closed behind her and leaned back against it, letting the back of her head fall against in defeat.<p>

"Nice mother-daughter conversation?" Bass inquired with a tiny smirk.

Well at least he found it funny...

"How much of that did you hear?" Charlie asked him as she closed her eyes, still letting the door support her weight for her.

"Bits and pieces," he responded. "Probably more than your mom did. Apparently she doesn't listen."

Charlie opened her eyes and cracked a small smile at that, causing him to beam at her in response.

Bass was surprised a little when she set the two dishes down on top of an old dresser that was sitting just inside the door before heading towards him.

He would have complained about the lack of breakfast that he was being given if she hadn't crawled right back on top of him with all signs of shyness from earlier in the morning seeming to have vanished.

Bass smiled up at her weakly as he felt a pain run through his side. He watched Charlie's smile fade as his hand instinctively moved to his side. Bass struggled to keep his breathing even and his face as blank as possible to try to mask the pain that he was feeling.

She frowned and told him, "If I'm hurting you, then say something."

"No," he insisted. "I'm fine."

"You're clutching at your side," she pointed out as she moved to get off of him.

Bass's hand that wasn't already clasped over his wound reached to grab her arm, stopping her from pulling away.

"I always grab at my side when I'm about to kiss a girl," he lied with a pathetic grimace. "It's my signature move."

"Sure it is," Charlie agreed in a tone that was sarcastically reassuring.

She shifted her weight to get off of him, but paused when he let out a sigh of relief.

"Alright, I was lying before. It hurt like a bitch," he admitted. "But this is good. It's way better... See, no hands."

He lifted both of his hands up in show and Charlie let out a small laugh as she shook her head in disbelief. He sure was ridiculous when he was desperate.

As Charlie lowered her head down to press her lips against Bass's, he moved his left hand to the side of her face and his right to her hip.

All signs of pain disappeared into the back of his mind as Charlie's lips worked their magic on him. Bass thought to himself that, if Rachel really did decide cut off his pain medicine, he should try to convince Charlie that this was the painkiller that he really needed.

Bass shoved all thoughts of Rachel out of his head as he focused on the task at hand. He doubted that he was going to get another shot at convincing Charlie if he didn't manage to make her feel something now. That meant that Bass was going to pull out all the stops on her and he had gathered quite the extensive collection of tricks over the years.

He felt Charlie's lips quirk upwards a little against his and took that as encouragement to kick things up a notch.

As he did so, a stabbing pain shot up his side and he fought to keep in control to hide it from Charlie... He just hoped that she assumed that the moan he'd just let out was because of her and not the fact that he was in excruciating pain.

Dammit. Bass was not pulling away from her now. He was going to play through the pain if it killed him, although he certainly would prefer if it didn't. Girls apparently weren't all that into the idea of making out with a corpse.

Bass leaned back against the bed further, reluctantly letting Charlie take over. He wasn't a big fan of handing over the reins, but he figured that it was worth it as the pain in his side dissipated to a dull throbbing.

In fact, having Charlie in control wasn't that bad... She was actually pretty damn impressive at this.

Bass wondered where she had learned these skills. He doubted it was from the Neville kid, who had been less than experienced himself. Still, did it really matter?

He didn't think so. All that mattered to him was that he was the one she was choosing to use her skills on at the moment.

As the need for air took over, Charlie finally had to tear her lips away from his.

She was still a little breathless as she sat up and rasped out, "Okay, there is definitely something there."

Bass looked up at her with a satisfied grin before his focus turned to a figure behind her.

"How long have you been standing there?"

Charlie turned quickly to look behind her, jostling Bass a little as she did so.

Bass bit down hard on his bottom lip to keep from swearing as his head fell back on his pillow.

"Longer than you'd probably like," Miles admitted before looking past her at Bass. "You good?"

Charlie turned back around, slower this time, to find that Bass was clearly in pain. She felt the sudden urge to smack him for trying to hide his pain from her once again, but that seemed like it would defeat the purpose.

"I'm fine," he insisted once he was able to speak again.

"You're lying," Charlie pointed out as she moved her weight off of him in favour of the other side of the bed. "Why can't you just admit when it's bothering you?"

"Because if I do, then you get off of me," he responded innocently. "And you're the one who was trying to convince me that the piece of metal stuck through my side wasn't that bad while I was bleeding out."

Charlie rolled her eyes at that before turning her attention back to her uncle.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"Your mom wasn't planning on leaving you two alone together in a room ever again and I figured I'd make a much more fun babysitter than her," he responded with an innocent shrug.

"I'm starving," Bass complained. His mind had gone back to his hunger as soon as he didn't have a girl straddling him as a distraction.

"A word of advice? Food tends to be more filling than just eating Charlie's face," Miles pointed out with a tilted smirk that earned him a glare from his niece. "Do you need help sitting up, moron?"

"Was the 'moron' really necessary to that question?" Bass asked.

"We're not back on good enough terms for me to say nice things, about you or to you," Miles informed. "Especially without adding a disclaimer insult."

"So we're on good enough terms that I'm allowed to make out with your niece in front of you, but you can't offer me help without calling me a moron?" Bass challenged.

Miles pretended to mull it over for a second before responding, "Yes... So do you want the help or not, dickhead?"

"I'll take it," Bass responded. "Since you're offering so nicely. It really warms my heart, Miles."

Miles rolled his eyes at that as he headed over to the bed.

Charlie got up to grab her food as Miles grabbed Bass's hand and slowly began to pull him up.

"Shit," Bass hissed out with a wince.

Miles froze in place and shot the other man a look of concern.

"This is up enough," Miles muttered after a few seconds as he grabbed the pillow off of the other side of the bed and stuck it behind Bass to help support him.

"Thanks," Bass told him before complaining, "I hate bed rest."

"Yeah, you've got it real rough here," Miles commented sarcastically as Charlie sat back down next to him.

She handed Bass his breakfast before digging into her own.

"I'm not feeding you," Miles felt the need to add.

"I can feed myself," Bass argued. "I'm not a damn baby."

"You keep telling yourself that," Miles responded with a wide smirk.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Please read and review! A huge thanks goes out to ambrown1022, decadenceofmysoul, ShyRomantic, Estel la Rodeuse, driver picks the music, Wolf9lucky, cuteboots, Loveforthestory, theresa t munoz, JM2788, ThreeMagpies, redbanker, and mia for being awesome and reviewing last chapter! :)  
><strong>


	5. Chapter 5

When Bass became exhausted from pain and fell back asleep, Miles figured that it was a good enough excuse to leave the pair unattended. Charlie stayed for a few minutes after he left, but ended up leaving not long after to let Bass get some rest and heal.

* * *

><p>When Bass woke up a few hours later, he found the room empty.<p>

He debated the idea of getting up while there was no one there to stop him, but the memory of how much sitting up had hurt held him back. At least he wasn't too hungry this time. He didn't really _need _anything, but he thought that a little company would be nice.

At least there was a window in his room. That way he could tell roughly what time of day it was. Plus it gave him a little variety, since he could choose between staring out the window at nothing changing or looking around the room at nothing changing. How exciting.

He could hear voices downstairs, but they were too faint to make anything out or even tell who was talking. The fact that they weren't screaming probably at least meant that Rachel had toned her mightier than thou attitude down a little bit.

He'd call out for Charlie or Miles, but he didn't really need anything. Besides, he didn't particularly care for playing the role of wounded baby bird who needed someone to mend its wing. He couldn't stand the idea of making himself look weak in the same house as Rachel was staying in.

So no. He wouldn't call out. He'd just wait instead and hope that they hadn't completely forgotten about him.

* * *

><p>When he finally heard the sound of the door opening, he redirected his attention away from glaring at a mystery stain on the ceiling to see who it was. Charlie.<p>

"Look at us, unattended," he commented in a slightly scratchy voice. "We'd better make good use of this time alone together."

"You mean you want to injure yourself more by being too stubborn to admit that I'm hurting you," she corrected as she sat down, half cross-legged, on a corner at the foot of the bed, facing him.

"You're my only source of entertainment," he pointed out. "And us being alone probably isn't going to last long. So I'm not really all that worried about getting hurt."

"For all I know, you could rip your stitches out and still pretend you're fine," Charlie commented before narrowing her eyes at him accusingly. "_Did_ you rip your stitches open?"

"I don't think so," he responded, not sounding entirely sure.

He wasn't certain of that, but he figured that, if he had, he probably would have felt the bleeding by then.

"Convincing," she told him sarcastically before getting up and moving to stand beside him on the other side of the bed.

She pulled the covers back off of him and then slid his shirt up to check on his wound. He hadn't ripped the stitches open, but it didn't look very good. There was a large purple bruise surrounding it that only stood out more because of how pale he still was from losing so much blood.

"Enjoying the view?" Bass questioned in an amused tone as she stared down at his wound.

"Not really," she told him. "You looked a lot better shirtless without this."

"So you've noticed how good I look shirtless before," he taunted with a smirk.

"Yes. You're attractive. Get over it," she told him in an amused voice.

"I'd tell you to get over it, but I don't think I really want that," he responded.

"I'm not going to injure you to make you less bored just because I'm your only option for entertainment right now," she pointed out.

"I'm already injured," he countered.

"Exactly," she insisted. "And you won't tell me when I'm hurting you worse, so I'm done kissing you until that starts to heal."

"Fine… But technically it's already healing," Bass gave in with the slightest of pouts. "Either way, at least your mom isn't in here anymore."

Charlie pulled his shirt back down, careful to try not to bother his wound as she did so, before walking around the bed to sit down next to him again.

"You should sleep in here again tonight," he commented. He knew that he may be coming off as needy, but bed rest was horrible and he liked having her around.

Charlie knew just how much her mother would be against that idea, and yet she still smiled a little as she told him, "I can do that."

"This thing isn't going to take too long to heal, is it?" Bass questioned. "…You don't think that your mom is just going to keep me injured and leave me on bed rest for eternity so that she can torture me, do you?"

"She might to try and keep you away from me," Charlie admitted, only partially joking. "But I doubt it when I'm sleeping in the same bed as you. She's more likely to try and get you anywhere but in a bed with me... Or she might just kill you."

"That seems like a bit of a waste after pulling a pipe out my side and stitching me up," he commented.

"Maybe she just likes seeing you in pain," Charlie suggested.

"I was unconscious," he pointed out.

"I guess she likes you better that way."

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><p><strong>AN: Please read and review! A huge thanks goes out to driver picks the music, LemonSupreme, JM2788, Hollywoodlove09, and the two anonymous guest reviewers for being awesome and reviewing last chapter! :) **


	6. Chapter 6

When Rachel caught word of her daughter's plans to spend the night in Bass's room once again, she was beyond bothered by it. She didn't like the idea of Monroe using the innocence that was left in Charlie to his advantage. In her mind, it felt obvious that he was just taking advantage of Charlie and the reaction she'd had to him almost dying.

She didn't want her daughter doing anything she would end up regretting and she was clinging to a desperate hope that Charlie was going to snap back to her senses at any moment.

Charlie had just lain down under the covers when her mother came storming into the room, slamming the door open as she did so.

Bass muttered sarcastically to himself under his breath about how having Rachel there was just what he'd been hoping for as he looked over at the fuming woman.

"No," was all she said, but Charlie was sure that her mother was gearing up for an argument.

Charlie looked over at where Rachel was standing with her arms crossed over her chest before laying her head back down on the pillow.

"If you think I'm letting you sleep in here again, then you're imagining things, Charlie," Rachel insisted.

"I don't think you're _letting_ me do anything," Charlie responded without moving. "I'm not asking for your permission. I'm sleeping here."

It wasn't even like she had caught them doing anything. They were just lying in the bed, still with a bit of space completely separating them, since Charlie wasn't overly fond of the idea of having his stitches rip open.

Charlie knew that her mother hadn't left, since she hadn't heard the door open. She had heard footsteps though, so she rolled and half-sat up, only to find her mother sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. She wasn't sure why she was surprised.

"What are you doing?" Charlie asked her.

"I'm just following your lead, Charlie," Rachel responded innocently. "The more stubborn you get, the more stubborn I'm going to act."

Charlie groaned loudly before lying back down and turning so that her back was facing her mother as she muttered out sarcastically, "Have fun sleeping in that chair."

It was pin-drop silent in the room and, although it was impossible to tell whether anyone was even close to sleeping, the tension in the room felt as if they were all still wide awake.

Finally, after a minute or two, Bass broke the silence as he turned his head towards Charlie and commented, "You know, just because she's here doesn't mean we can't do anything."

"Shut up," Charlie responded immediately.

"I'm just saying, it would probably make her leave," Bass insisted.

Rachel glared over at the bed as she told him, "You're disgusting."

* * *

><p>A little under half an hour passed before Rachel finally gave up and left the room, since the chair was far too uncomfortable to sleep in and even she had to admit, only to herself of course, that her strategy could use some improvement.<p>

The door closed behind her and a few minutes passed before Bass quietly asked, "Are you still awake?"

"No, I slept like a baby with my mom just staring at us," she responded sarcastically. "...You're not helping you know."

"What did I do?" He questioned irritably.

She rolled back over to look at him as she insisted, "Nothing was going to happen tonight either way and you know that. You just said that to get on her nerves and now she's going to bother me ten times as much because of it."

"It's not my fault your mom's insane," he defended.

Charlie glared at him and hoped he could see it in the darkness. Sure, sometimes she thought of her mother that way, but she didn't like the way he was acting.

"You're just as bad as her, you know," she told him. "You're both too busy trying to make each other miserable to make any attempts at getting along for the sake of everyone else's sanity."

"Me and your mom are not going to get along anytime soon," he responded. "Not now. Not ever. She's going to hate me no matter what, so there's no chance in hell that I'm going to waste my time trying to play nice with her."

Charlie didn't say anything to that and, instead, just closed her eyes. She decided that she wasn't going to waste energy arguing with him. Instead, she shut her eyes to try to catch some sleep. She silently hoped that things would resolve themselves in the morning.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Charlie woke up to find Bass still asleep. She slipped out of bed, careful not to wake him, and headed out of the room to go find herself some breakfast.<p>

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><p><strong>AN: Please read and review! A huge thanks goes out to Wolf9lucky, Daniella T, Lemon Supreme, Hollywoodlove09, driver picks the music, ShyRomantic, and JM2788 for reviewing last chapter! :)  
><strong>


	7. Chapter 7

Bass woke up to find himself alone once again. He wasn't sure of when exactly she had left, but he had a sneaking suspicion that it was because she was still mad about the night before.

Maybe he'd been a bit of an ass, but that didn't change the fact that he had meant what he'd said about not getting along with Rachel. He liked Charlie, but that didn't mean that he was going to play friends with a crazy woman who might kill him in his sleep any night.

He was still stuck on bed rest, so he didn't have any option but to wait Charlie out. Hopefully she would come back soon, but he knew that, if she was feeling especially stubborn, she would just leave him there by himself indefinitely.

Still, Miles hopefully would remember that he was there and at least bring him enough food to keep him alive.

* * *

><p>What felt like an eternity passed before Bass decided that he hated waiting for someone to come help him even more than he hated bed rest.<p>

He pulled the covers down and moved his shirt to get a peek at his stitches. There was still a large bruise surrounding them and he had no doubt that they looked bad, but he told himself that they looked good enough that he could handle getting up on his own as long as he was careful.

Deciding that and actually trying to carry out that plan were two very different things though. It was easy to convince himself that he was fine and declare his bed rest days over. It was easy to tell his body to get up and out of bed, but actually trying to sit up was a struggle.

He managed to press himself into a half-sitting position with his arms before he had to stop as he let out a sound that was a cross between a hiss and a growl. He wasn't about to let a little pain stop him though, so he resisted the urge to lie back down and pushed himself up even further.

It took longer than he would have preferred, but after a minute or two he had managed to make it to his feet.

He remained there, standing still, for a few seconds to try to re-gather his strength. He was just about to move for the door when it opened to reveal Charlie with a bowl in her hand.

"What are you doing out of bed?" She asked him, not seeming very impressed.

"I'd rather be tortured than stay on bed rest any longer," he insisted. "Besides, I was going to look for you. I wasn't sure you were coming back."

"You were asleep so I went to eat," she responded. "I brought you some food back with me."

"So does this mean you aren't still mad about last night?" He asked her.

Charlie remained with his breakfast held in her hands, not offering it out to him, as she told him, "It means I think you're incapable of taking care of yourself and, at this point, you're more likely to get your doctor to murder you than admit to being injured."

"I can take care of myself," he argued. "I managed to get up on my own, didn't I?"

"When you're supposed to be on bed rest," she retorted. "Great job on that, by the way."

She was clearly annoyed, he just wasn't entirely sure whether the cause was him being out of bed or his refusal to even pretend that he was willing to try to get along with Rachel.

"I'm fine," Bass insisted. "I don't need bed rest."

"Actually, you're an idiot who's going to get his stitches ripped open trying to prove a point," she responded.

He pulled his shirt up to show that his stitches were still intact as he told her, "You know, I really don't find this bed rest thing necessary... I could probably just walk this off."

"I'm sure you could," she assured him sarcastically. "But do you really want to risk tearing your wound open and being stuck on bed rest for even longer?"

Bass grumbled under his breath before complaining, "So, what? I get nothing for my efforts? Just to get back in that damn bed?"

Charlie rolled her eyes, then set his breakfast down and walked over to him and kissed him. Maybe his wound wasn't healed yet, but while he was standing up was her only real chance to kiss him without injuring him in the process.

As she pulled back, he commented, "I still don't know if that was worth how much of a bitch getting up was."

She raised an eyebrow at him, wondering if she should feel insulted, but that thought disappeared as he brought his lips back down to hers.

"Now was it worth it?" She asked as she came back up for air.

A smirk formed on his lips as he insisted, "I don't know... I'm still not sure."

"We should probably try that again, right?" She asked him before shaking her head a little at the things she let him get away with.

"If you insist," Bass agreed before bringing his lips to hers once again, seeming to have completely forgotten about his food.

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><p><strong>AN: Please read and review! Another giant thanks goes out to Hollywoodlove09, LemonSupreme, RevolutionReader, Wolf9lucky, and ShyRomantic for reviewing last chapter! :) **


	8. Chapter 8

Bass was still stuck on bed rest for much longer than he would have preferred before his wound had finally healed enough that he was able to convince Charlie he was _actually_ in good enough condition to be up and walking around.

There was still a faint bruise and it bothered him somewhat, but for the most part he was able to ignore it. That was especially true whenever Charlie was nearby.

He'd just finished complaining to Miles about how the other man should feel sorry for him, since he still hadn't fully healed yet, when she walked into the room.

"What are you two talking about?" She asked them.

"Bass was just bitching about how fragile and still injured he is," Miles told her with a smirk. "Really, you should be careful. He's like a China doll."

Bass glared over at his friend before defending himself, "I am _not_ fragile."

Miles ignored that though as he continued to tell his niece, "You should have heard him. All morning he hasn't shut up about how much it's been bothering him."

Maybe he was exaggerating a little, but Miles didn't mind. He was having fun.

"I said one thing," Bass argued with Miles before insisting, "It's not even bothering me anymore."

"Look, now he's healed. It's a miracle," Miles commented sarcastically.

Charlie laughed a little at that as her uncle headed past her towards the doorway.

She wasn't sure of exactly what she and Bass were or how much things were going to change with him off bed rest. Up until that point, he'd either been dying or stuck in bed with her as his caretaker and token distraction. Things had grown comfortable with him on bed rest and she found herself hoping that things weren't going to be different or weird now that they were outside of that room and back to what was normal life for them.

"Miles is a terrible liar," Bass insisted.

"Really?" She taunted. "Because I seem to remember you doing a _lot_ of complaining while you were stuck in bed."

"Exactly," he told her. "I'm out of bed now. I'm in good enough condition that you don't have to worry about hurting me. What's there to complain about?"

Charlie thought that the idea of her mother watching them like a hawk now that he was up and about was probably worth complaining about, but she decided against it. They'd made an agreement to try to ignore Rachel in order to keep them arguing about her and she didn't need to break that arrangement. The system seemed to be working and she figured that they'd be seeing enough of her mother during the next couple of days, at the very least, that she didn't need to waste time alone with Bass thinking about her.

She took a couple of steps towards him before wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him a lot less gently than she ever had before. She felt his lips quirk up slightly as she let her chest press against his.

When she pulled away from him, she still remained standing in the same place as her arms loosened their hold around his neck, but didn't let go.

"Are you sure you're not still recovering?" She asked him with a playful smirk.

"I've never felt better," he insisted as his hands moved to rest on her hips.

"You'd say that no matter what condition you were in, wouldn't you?" She accused.

"I definitely would," he agreed. "But I don't have to lie this time."

"I don't know," Charlie teased him. "The last thing you probably want to do right now is get back into a bed."

"So we won't go in a bed," he insisted.

"Right," she responded sarcastically. "We'll just stay right here where anyone can walk in on us."

And she was sure that people would, especially her mother.

"You know, I was just thinking," he told her as if he'd had a sudden realization. "I was locked up there for a long time. I could use some exercise. I should really go get some fresh air. Stretch my legs... Care to join me?"

She let out a small laugh at the way he was trying to word it as if he wasn't inviting her to go have sex in the middle of the woods.

"Sure," she agreed. "Since I need the fresh air."

The pair walked down the hallway together towards the front door and it was clear by Miles' expression that they were definitely not fooling anyone, or at least they were not fooling him.

"Try not to have a building collapse on you again," he told them with a smirk as he watched them head for the door.

_The End_

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><p><strong>AN: Please read and review! A ginormous thanks goes out to RevolutionReader, LemonSupreme, banneg, and crschuetz for reviewing last chapter! :D  
><strong>


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